Health, Wellness, Sex and BodyDiscuss Overdoses - the leading cause of injury death in the United States at the General Discussion; Drug poisoning deaths are the leading cause of injury death in the United States...
DEA: 52,404 Drug Overdoses in 2015; ...

Drug poisoning deaths are the leading cause of injury death in the United States...DEA: 52,404 Drug Overdoses in 2015; 144 People a DayOctober 24,s 2017 | - Drug poisoning deaths are the leading cause of injury death in the United States, killing 52,404 people in 2015, or about 144 people a day, the Drug Enforcement Administration said in a report released on Monday.

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Drug overdoses "are currently at their highest-ever recorded level and, every year since 2011, have outnumbered deaths by firearms, motor vehicle crashes, suicide and homicide," the report said. DEA said the 52,404 drug overdose deaths counted by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention in 2015 exceeded the 44,193 suicides in that year; 37,757 motor vehicle crashes; 36,252 firearms deaths; and 17,793 homicides. (The report notes that deaths may be counted multiple times because of overlapping categories.) And according to Attorney General Jeff Sessions, preliminary data indicate that around 60,000 people died of drug overdoses in the U.S. in 2016, so the number continues to rise.

While the nation's opioid epidemic has received most of the attention lately, that's only part of the story. According to the 2017 National Drug Threat Assessment: "[T]he methamphetamine threat has remained prevalent; the cocaine threat appears to be rebounding; new psychoactive substances (NPS) continue to be a challenge; and the focus of marijuana enforcement efforts continues to evolve." The Drug Enforcement Administration, using CDC data, said opioids (prescription opioids, heroin, and fentanyl) represented 63 percent of the approximately 52,404 drug overdoses in 2015. That works out to 91 opioid overdose deaths a day.

While recent data suggests abuse of prescription drugs has lessened in some areas, the number of individuals reporting current use of controlled prescription drugs is still more than those reporting use of cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine, MDMA, and phencyclidine (PCP) combined. The total economic burden of prescription drug abuse was estimated to be $78.5 billion in 2013. This includes increased health care and substance abuse treatment costs as well as criminal justice costs. "The costs of prescription opioid abuse represent a substantial and growing economic burden for the society," the report said. "The increasing prevalence of abuse suggests an even greater societal burden in the future."

Re: Overdoses - the leading cause of injury death in the United States

Protecting yourself from fentanyl...Facing the Fears of Fentanyl Exposure: Protecting Law EnforcementNovember 1, 2017 - Understand the potential risks as well as the personal protective equipment available to help prevent accidental fentanyl exposure.

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Fentanyl. It is a major factor in the opioid epidemic and considered to be one of the deadliest illicit drugs on the market. From the singer Prince to teens in small towns, fentanyl has been linked to many drug overdoses and deaths. For first responders like police officers and paramedics, accidental exposure to the drug can prove to be quite harmful. As a member of law enforcement who may routinely conduct drug raids, drug arrests, respond to potential opioid overdoses and other situations where drugs such as fentanyl may be present, it is crucial that you take the necessary precautions to protect your body from the effects of fentanyl exposure. You should understand the potential risks as well as the personal protective equipment available to help prevent accidental fentanyl exposure.

What Exactly is Fentanyl?

Fentanyl was originally developed as a rapid-acting synthetic opioid to be used as a prescription medication for severe pain. When prescribed for pain relief, fentanyl, and its analogues, generally come in the form of a transdermal patch worn by patients. This patch allows the drug to provide immediate relief through skin contact, but it is also slowly released and absorbed through the body over the course of several days since the drug is so powerful. According to the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), fentanyl is about 50 to 100 times more potent than heroin or morphine. However, it is the recreational use of this potent drug that is rapidly creating a hazard from small towns to large cities. There is a growing illegal market in which individuals buy large amounts of the drug in a powder form and compress it into tablets to be sold illicitly. Law enforcement around the country are reporting coming into contact with fentanyl in powder, tablet or liquid form.

What Effects Occur Due to Exposure to Fentanyl?

Inhalation of the powder form is a likely exposure route for modified-illicit fentanyl. A small amount of fentanyl that has been aerosolized can affect a person quickly. Potential exposure routes of greatest concern typically include inhalation, interaction with the eyes or nose (mucous membrane contact), ingestion or from a needlestick.

Exposure can cause an onset of adverse health effects such as:

* Disorientation
* Coughing
* Sedation

More importantly, according the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA), respiratory distress or cardiac arrest can occur within minutes of exposure from as small a dose as 2 milligrams.

PPE for Protection from Fentanyl Exposure

The following PPE recommendations, provided by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and the National Institute of Occupational Health and Safety (NIOSH), apply to routine activities after an arrest or search warrant execution, such as evidence collection activities. This guidance applies to powder, pill, and liquid forms of fentanyl or its analogs that may be present during the evidence collection phase of law enforcement operations. NIOSH recommends that law enforcement personnel assess the specific risks of each situation and exposure level with regards to fentanyl in order to determine the appropriate personal protective equipment (PPE) to protect against respiratory and/or dermal hazards, including accidental inhalation or skin exposure. The following serves as a general discussion of potential PPE options. To learn more about what specific PPE products and models can be used to help protect law enforcement from fentanyl depending on the exposure level conditions, please download our whitepaper.

Re: Overdoses - the leading cause of injury death in the United States

US to Ban Illicit Versions of Fentanyl...US to Ban Illicit Versions of Synthetic OpioidNovember 10, 2017 - The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration plans to ban all illicit versions of fentanyl, the highly addictive opioid painkiller responsible for tens of thousands of deadly drug overdoses in the United States in recent years.

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The DEA, an arm of the Justice Department, will classify all "fentanyl-related substances" as a Schedule I drug, effectively making their sale illegal, the Department said on Thursday. The scheduling is the latest step by the Trump administration to combat an epidemic that has killed more than a half-million Americans since 2000. U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the move, calling it “an important step toward halting the rising death toll caused by illicit fentanyls in the United States.” "By scheduling all fentanyls, we empower our law enforcement officers and prosecutors to take swift and necessary action against those spreading these deadly poisons,” Sessions said in a statement. DEA spokesperson Barbara Carreno said no date has been set for publishing the planned classification in the federal register. The classification will take effect no earlier than 30 days after the DEA publishes its notice of intent and will last up to two years with the option of a one-year extension.

'Schedules' of drugs

The DEA divides drugs, substances, and chemicals used to make drugs into five categories or “schedules,” depending on their medical purpose and potential for abuse and dependency. Schedule I drugs, the agency's highest classification, have no medial use and have a high potential for abuse. Heroin and marijuana are among substances currently categorized as Schedule I drugs. Schedule II drugs have an accepted medical use but have a high potential for abuse. Fentanyl, a synthetic opioid pain reliever 100 times more powerful than morphine, is currently listed as a Schedule II drug.

A bag of 4-fluoro isobutyryl fentanyl which was seized in a drug raid is displayed at the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Testing and Research Laboratory in Sterling, Virginia

The U.S. opioid epidemic is being fueled in large part by the growing prevalence of illicit fentanyl and fentanyl analogues (variations of fentanyl) imported from China, Mexico and other countries. Last year, more than 64,000 Americans died of drug overdoses, including more than 20,000 who overdosed on fentanyl-related substances, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

To evade U.S. controls, foreign manufacturers of fentanyl create “structural variants” of fentanyl that are not currently listed under the Controlled Substances Act, the Justice Department said. Carreno said the scheduling of fentanyl analogues “gives us the opportunity to get ahead of the rogue chemists out there to make new drugs by tweaking molecules.” Once the classification takes effect, “anyone who possesses, imports, distributes, or manufactures any illicit fentanyl analogue will be subject to criminal prosecution in the same manner as for fentanyl and other controlled substances,” the Department of Justice said in a statement.